TLT Sandwich For a Cool, Rainy Day Lunch

TLT stands for Tofu, Lettuce and Tomato. This sandwich is extra special because of two factors: 1. it is made with mostly local ingredients; 2. its extra small on baguette bread to make it fun to eat for everyone. I buy locally made tofu at my farmer's market thanks to Cara and Corn at Wintergreens - a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). No, this is not raw, but it is vegetarian/vegan (no animal products used). If you don't eat bread, you can sandwich this between two pieces of romaine lettuce for a nice fresh taste. The hardest part of this sandwich is baking the tofu which I usually do once per week and keep it for the week. Here's my marinade and how to bake the tofu:

Marinade

1/4 c shoyu soy sauce or wheat free tamari (for all you gluten-free folks)
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup or agave nectar
3 or 4 dashes of toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup water
Mix all together and pour onto 1/2 inch thick slabs of tofu in a baking dish with tofu laid out in one layer. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes (or up to an hour for a deeper flavor). Drain off the excess marinade and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Then turn tofu over, coat the tops with more marinade (don't allow extra marinade to lay on the bottom of the dish or it will burn giving the tofu a burnt flavor), and place back in the oven for 20 minutes. Done!

For the TLT:

Thinly slice a baguette and gently toast the slices. While the bread is toasting, slice a tomato and set out the lettuce and avocado. When toast is ready (usually in about 4 minutes), spread avocado on both pieces of toast like mayonnaise. Then layer on the baked tofu, tomato and lettuce. Top it off with the other piece of avocado-laiden toast and enjoy. Even little hands enjoy this sandwich.

(Tip: instead of lettuce, you can use sprouts in the sandwich, especially sunflower sprouts for some extra nutrients and sproutier flavor. Kids really like sunflower sprouts!)

(Tip 2: if avocado is not a favorite, try hummus! It'll give it a different taste, but still delicious with extra protein.)

We served this with raw, fresh shelled english peas grown by Hepworth Farms (a local Hudson Valley organic veg farm by cult hero Amy Hepworth). Little hands love to shell their own peas.

Now to come up with a raw version of this to keep us humming...hmmmmmm

Keep your day bright and beautiful

Sushi Night!

Tonight's dinner was quite last minute. I opened the fridge to see what was inside. Lucian, my 3 1/2 year old, saw his favorite salad dressing - a locally made japanese ginger dressing. He asked for salad with "Kazu's dressing" on it. What mom would deny THAT?? So, while he was chomping away at his locally grown organic greens from Four Winds Farm, I scoured the fridge for some more sustenance. I found some leftover rice, tofu, an avocado, nori, some soaked almonds, and an orange. I created a sushi bowl for Lucian as he likes it that way and not rolled up. I created a delicious sauce I read about on 101cookbooks.com, but didn't cook it so it was super fast. Here's the sushi bowl which kids seem to devour:

-rice (brown rice preferable for more fiber and nutrients)
-1/2 avocado, thinly sliced
-1 nori sheet, cut into long strips
-firm tofu cut into 5-10 matchsticks

sauce (simplified from original recipe):
juice of 1 orange
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp agave nectar or raw honey, if needed (usually the juice is sweet enough)
mix together and pour over rice.

While the rice was reheating on the stove, I whipped up my Sunny Day At Sea almond pate that I wrapped up into the nori sheets (he tried it and didn't like it - darn).

1 cup almonds, soaked in water a minimum of 4 hours
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp shoyu or tamari (soy sauce)
juice of 2 lemons
2 ribs celery, diced
In a food processor, blend the almonds, garlic, shoyu and lemon juice until it reaches a pate consistency. If you have a Vitamix, try blending it in there or putting the almonds through a homogenizing juicer (in case you have one of those handy if you have a raw food kitchen). Then hand mix in the diced celery. Tastes so much like tuna salad! Makes enough for 4 fat nori rolls (2 servings).

Lay out the pate in nori sheets, add avocado and other veggies like carrot sticks and cucumber sticks and roll up. You can use the above orange sauce as the dip. This is an awesome dinner which can be made in 30 minutes or less if you have the nuts soaked.

If you're not into making nut pate, but love tuna, use tuna salad to make these rolls instead of making a tuna salad sandwich. Just skip the bread and go for the nori which is super high in nutrients including calcium and iron.

Lucian had some vanilla "milk" for dessert. Its an almond-hemp milk I made and added ground vanilla and a handful of dates. Sweet, yummy and full of nutrients. I'm going to freeze some tonight in popsicle molds to have vanilla popsicles tomorrow.

Too much of a good thing

We've spent all week at home.  Not necessarily because we've wanted to (although its beautiful where we live and we could get lost in the woods for days).  

I OD'd on elderberry.

Everything I've read says that too much elderberry can give a person loose stools (sorry for the graphic explanation), but that's not what I experienced.  I got spots.  Not just a few, but spots everywhere on my body.  I felt like a pimply teenager all over again hiding my face behind long hair and big hats.  Thank God it wasn't the middle of summer and at least I could wear long sleeves and pants.  Are you thinking, "how can she be sure it was the elderberry?".  I can't be 100% positive, but I've written down everything I've eaten in the past week, everything I've put on my body, detergents, soaps, lotions, cleaners, and have called every friend I've seen in the past 3 weeks to see if anyone else had these mystery spots.  Nothing.  The only thing different was that I took copious amounts of elderberry for the past week to try to combat the beginnings of a cold.  I took way more than the directions on the bottle told me to take.  Also, last year the same thing happened to Lucian, my son.  

Good news:  I didn't get the cold!  But I will surely follow the dosage amounts from now on!  Lesson learned.

Elderberry For Your Health

For those who don't know elderberry, it is a shrub or small tree that grows throughout the warmer regions of the Americas and Europe.  The berries that form late in the summer are most recently known to be really great at shortening the duration of colds and illnesses.  That's because they contain potassium and large amounts of vitamin c.  Elderberries are also a good source of anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants which are responsible for giving many red and purple fruits their color.  

In our house we've been using elderberry syrup, the most commonly found way of consuming elderberry, for a few years.  As soon as symptoms of a cold appear, we take it and often times the cold doesn't come to fruition, or if it does, it is way shorter than other friends who have the same cold.  It tastes pretty good too.  Even my son loves it (okay, so he eats sprouted lentils and dulse for snacks too.  Normal?)  

Elderberry is not like Echinacea.  You don't take it to keep the viruses away, but rather take it at the first sign of a virus.  I've read that it shouldn't be taken for more than 2 weeks at a time, as a tolerance can be built up against it.

There are a few brands to choose from.  The sweetest brand is "Sambucol".  The nastiest tasting brand is "Planetary Herbals", but its powerful in its punch and has other good stuff thrown into the mix.

The weather's getting colder, so get to your health food store and stock up on the good stuff.  Having it in the house even makes me feel like I have a better immune system!

"There are only two lasting gift we can give our children.: one is roots, the other wings."

-Hodding Carter

I even see this in parenting my 2 1/2 year old son.  I want him to know what home is.  He's always safe at home, welcome home and loved at home.  Yet I want him to experience things on his own, so let him explore as he likes.  I simply stay in one place so he always knows where I (home) am.  

Limitless

If you empty yourself of your own expectations, you will see that your children will never be outside your love.

As my son and I were making blueberry muffins this morning he began tasting everything.  At first, I told him he couldn't taste the flour, the baking soda, the sugar.  But stopped myself and thought, how will he ever know if he doesn't experience.  So the mess ensued.  It was a marvelous disaster.  

And so the days begins...

Today...

Its only fit to begin this blog by starting with the word 'today'.  I'm in the moment.  I find this essential for me in my journey through motherhood.  I cannot spend time wondering what could have been, reminiscing about the past or dreaming of the future.  I then miss out on what's happening right now.  My son standing in a shower of sand in the sandbox as he throws it up and lets it trickle down on his body.  Walking outside to see what flowers have bloomed today  (oh look - the irises and mountain laurels are open!).  

Today I am the best me I can be.  I eat well.  I spend time laughing with my 2 year old son while we play chase.  I keep a song in my heart.  

I write this while eating a big salad that gives me lots of energy to keep me going happily through my day: sprouts, dulse, soaked sunflower seeds, carrots, cucumber, red bell pepper, broccoli, and asparagus spears mixed with some olive oil, lemon juice and bragg's aminos.  Simple and delicious.  Later I will make some raw chocolates - photos are to come.  They are simply scrumptious!

My transformation is underway.  I've been eating all raw foods for 2 1/2 week now.  I feel phenomenal.  I was scared, thought I would be bored with my food, was afraid of detoxing because I'm still breastfeeding my son.  None of that has happened.  The amazing energy I feel has outweighed all those fears.  I really don't know how long I will eat like this.  My philosophy is that I do what makes me happy.  Right now, this is what's making me happy, or at least helping me be happy.  And as long as I'm happy, all is right in my world.  

Welcome to Holimama.  There's much more to explore in the life as a holistic mother.  Stay updated daily as I cover topics that any mother will find interest in - and easy ways of adapting them to your life.

In Health and Happiness,

Stanzi